US President Donald Trump and Democratic People's Republic of Korea leader Kim Jong-un signed a document on Tuesday afternoon, a document that Trump described as "very important" and "very comprehensive" without specifying the details.

Kim said "we had a historic meeting, and decided to leave the history behind", adding "we will see major changes".

Trump told the press that the summit went better than anybody had predicted, adding that the US relations with DPRK will be very different and the situation on the Korean Peninsula will be very different.

"Both sides will be very impressed with the results," Trump said.

Asked if the denuclearization will start, Trump said "we will start that process very, quickly, very very quickly."

The two leaders started their historic summit at the Capella hotel in Sentosa on an optimistic note Tuesday morning.

Right after they sat down in the Capella hotel for the one-on-one session, Trump said the summit will be a tremendous success, adding "we will have a terrific relationship, no doubt".

"The way to come to here was not easy," Kim said. "The old prejudices and practices worked as obstacles on our way forward but we overcame all of them and we are here today."

Trump replied, "That's great."

The two shook hands and exchanged words at 9:04 am after arriving at the hotel for the first-ever summit between leaders of the two countries.

The two engaged in a private session, accompanied by only translators. Then an expanded session was held with their advisors. A working lunch followed.

On Monday, diplomats from both countries continued their discussions whole day trying to narrow differences on key issues.

The US has recently tamped down the previous high expectation of a swift denuclearization and instead talked about a process that will take time. But Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted on

Monday that the ultimate goal is for a complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Pompeo said the US will offer security guarantees but gave no details. The DPRK has concerns over issues such as the signing of a peace treaty to end the 1950-1953 Korean War, the lift of economic sanctions, US troop reductions in South Korea and a cutting of US-South Korea joint military drills on the peninsula.

"The fact that is happening at all reflects both sides' interests in buying time, capping the risk of military conflict, and expanding the problem beyond the intractable symptom of denuclearization to the underlying mutual mistrust caused by seven decades of adversarial relations," said Scott Snyder, senior fellow for Korea studies and director of the program on US-Korea policy at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Kupchan, a professor at Georgetown University and a former Obama administration official, said he is cautiously hopeful that the summit will set the stage for a breakthrough.

"Bold moves of this sort are often needed to push long-standing rivalries toward rapprochement," he said.

"My main concern is that neither side has undertaken the necessary preparations for this meeting. I also worry that the volatile and unpredictable nature of both leaders could make a meaningful breakthrough difficult to sustain. Both Trump and Kim are known for changing their minds, so only time will tell whether any progress achieved at the summit is sustainable," said Kupchan, author of the book How Enemies Become Friends.

"My best guess is that the leaders will declare that they have reached a broad agreement to move forward toward a peace treaty, normalization, and denuclearization. They will then task their teams to turn their agreement into reality. That is when the hard work will begin — and the chances of failure go up significantly," he said.

Ian Bremmer, president and founder of Eurasia Group, said Trump has accomplished more on North Korea to date than any US president, citing the facts of China tightening sanctions, the suspension of DPRK missile and nuclear tests, the release of US prisoners and Kim’s reaching out to China, South Korea, Russia and US diplomatically.

"However the summit goes, that's progress," he said in a tweet on Tuesday.

Kim is scheduled to leave Singapore on Tuesday afternoon, while Trump plans to leave around 8 pm.

Not much except the usual fanfare.
Rumor has it that Trump promised Kim could stay in power as long as he gives up his nuclear deterrence.
On the world stage the USA uses assassination threats as diplomacy.

If capitalism promotes innovation and creativity then why aren't scientists and artists the richest people in a capitalist nation?

The part of today's agreement that stated:
""Reaffirming the April 27, 2018 Panmunjom Declaration, the DPRK commits to work towards complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.""

This means that the USA must remove all its military bases from South Korea. Otherwise how could North Korea be assured of complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula?
Until that happens then North Korea has no obligation to abandon its nuclear deterrence programs. And on top of this, how could North Korea be sure the USA does not have nuclear equipped submarines within striking distance of North Korea.
The USA can't be trusted. Its adversaries know this.

If capitalism promotes innovation and creativity then why aren't scientists and artists the richest people in a capitalist nation?